Biography of Rufus K. Milam, Franklin Co, AR
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Submitted by:
Date: 16 Aug 1998
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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed
Publishing Co., 1889.
Rufus K. Milam, farmer and mechanic, is a native of Jackson, Ala., and
is a son of Thomas F. and Amanda (Bell) Milam. Coleman Milam,
grandfather of Rufus K., was born in Laurens County, S. C. He served
in the War of 1812 and also in the Indian War, and after the latter he
located in Hardin County, Tenn., and engaged in farming until his
death in 1869, at the age of ninety-eight years. Thomas F. Milam was
born in Grundy County, Tenn., in 1810, where he was reared and
educated. In 1831 he married Amanda Bell, of Coffee County, Tenn., a
daughter of James Bell, and a descendant on the maternal side of Gen.
John Montgomery, who fell at the battle of Quebec, in the French and
Indian War. James Bell, one of the earliest settlers of Tennessee, was
a distiller and extensive farmer, and was also engaged in
merchandising; politically he was a Whig. After his marriage Thomas F.
Milam settled on a farm in Coffee County, Tenn., whence he removed to
Hardin County, and followed farming. He was a carpenter by trade, and
owned a fine farm on the Tennessee River. He was an early settler, and
was a prominent man in politics as well as church work. In 1859 he
removed to Arkansas, and located on a farm near what is now Sub Rosa.
At the outbreak of the late Civil War he entered the Confederate army
as orderly-sergeant, and died at Van Buren, Ark., in March, 1862. Mrs.
Amanda Milam died in 1880, the mother of ten children, of whom nine
are living, viz.: Margaret (wife of C. M. Gammill), Rufus K., Lucas
C., Calaway J., James F., Malinda (now Mrs. Ambrose Williams), Thomas
F., Frances C. (who married Thomas Nolan), William H. O. and Lorenzo
M. Mrs. Amanda Milam was a Christian woman, and an active worker in
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Rufus K. Milam was born July 27, 1834,
and grew to manhood on the farm in Hardin County, Tenn. He learned the
trades of wheelwright and blacksmith, and first went to Arkansas in
1857, returning to Tennessee the same year, and the following year he
went to Eastern Florida, where he worked at his trade until 1860, when
he again went to Franklin County, Ark., and located on the farm where
he now resides. In 1862 he was conscripted [p.1259] in the Confederate
army, and held contrary to his wishes. He made his escape, and
subsequently assisted in recruiting the Second Arkansas Cavalry; he
was made lieutenant of Company G, and was in active service until the
close of the war. He took part in Gen. Price's raid through Missouri,
served as railroad guard in Tennessee, was in several skirmishes, and
was discharged at La Grange, Tenn., August 20, 1865. He then married
Martha A. Poindexter, and their five children are James H., Belle R.
(wife of John Priest), Joseph P. and George and Hannah (twins). Mr.
Milam is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He owns a
fine farm of ninety acres, all under cultivation, and continues to
work at his trade.